The present invention relates to switching devices and, more specifically, to field effect transistors (FETs) formed with carbide drains and sources.
Switching devices based on nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, or semiconducting nanowires have potential due to the high carrier mobility and small dimensions that such nanostructures can provide. However, one of the many challenges a technology based on such nanostructures must overcome is compatibility with the high layout density that traditional silicon CMOS technology currently supports. For high layout density, the source/drain and gate contacts to the switching device built around each nanostructure must all be precisely positioned. In silicon CMOS, this precise positioning is enabled by using gate shadowing to define implanted junction profiles and by the self-aligned silicide process.